Especially for Co-ordinators - Managing the English Program

Special Events

Celebrating Student Work - a Literature Evening
Visiting Authors and Illustrators
Competitions
Share a Special Event from your School

The enthusiasm of teachers and students is lifted by special events to support and celebrate student learning in English. Special events also contribute to teachers’ teamwork and professional learning.

1. Celebrating Student Work - a Literature Evening

As a way of recognizing students' creative work and lifting the profile of English in the school, think about organising a students’ literature evening. A literature evening provides a great opportunity for students to be given positive feedback and to demonstrate the value placed on the work which is undertaken in class. It is also a valuable way to encourage community involvement at the college level.

A model used recently by Karen Clark at Kingston High proved to be highly successful and time efficient. The English Department combined with the Technology Department to hold a celebration of the Creative Arts. It was held over two evenings – one for Grades 7 & 8 and another for Grades 9 & 10.

Preparation

• English staff were informed about the event and asked to seek expressions of interest from students. Each English class was invited to select three students to take part. Participation was not dependent on ability in writing, so teachers used a variety of methods to select students. Some asked for names of interested students and drew three names ”out of a hat“; others asked particular students if they wished to be involved.
• With the help of the teacher, each students selected an appropriate piece and spent time practising reading the piece aloud.

Note from Karen: It is important to check for variety in the pieces. One year, My students all read depressing material – quality stuff, but very soul searching and often miserable!!! The parents and grandparents all looked grim as they left!

• A meeting was held three days prior to the event during recess and students put themselves into groups of three. Each group was given a number. At this stage, names of students to be involved were gathered in order to prepare certificates of participation.
• Teachers handed out forms informing parents of the program for the evening. Copies of the pieces were collected by teachers in readiness for publication in a booklet.
• Students were advised that, before presenting their work, they should state their name and provide some background on their piece.
• Students checked the timing of their performances.

Note from Karen: There is always one student who wants to read an epic, so check that the piece is not too long. Decide how much time each person has to read and stress to students the importance of keeping to the time.

On the evening

• Some poetry written by the students was read aloud to the whole audience and was accompanied by some musical items. Following this, some drama items were presented.
• Reading groups had been allocated certain spaces in the school. Because there were over 100 students involved, a large open area was used as well as the library.
• The groups were placed according to their number.

Note from Karen: it is important here that each group has its own space, as things tend to get noisy and enthusiastic parents clap loudly!

• Visitors were informed that, after a certain length of time, the group of students would move on. The audiences remained in the same location. This saved changeover time. Students served supper in between the movement of groups.

Note from Karen: It's good to get a colleague to help co-ordinate movement and to check that students don't skip a group.

• Students and parents gathered together at the end of the evening and one of the teachers read a piece he had written. The finale was a rousing musical item.

2. Visiting Authors and Illustrators

There are many authors and illustrators, both local and national, who are willing to work with students in schools. David Rish, Peter Gouldthorpe, Jane Burrell, Sally Odgers, Gary Crew, and Brian Caswell are just some of the people who have worked recently in Tasmanian schools. Some people will contact the school to offer their services, while others can be contacted through their publishers, their websites, through TATE or the CBCA . Authors and illustrators may offer one-off sessions or work for periods of up to week.

There are many elements to be considered when planning for an author or illustrator to work in a school. These include:

• deciding whether the author will work with a grade, class or the whole school;
• linking the author’s work to the English program;
• negotiating the approaches the author will take when working with students;
• having students read/view the author’s work before the visit;
• planning for changes to the timetable;
• organising payment; transport and accommodation, as required;
• deciding on activities to follow up the visit; and
• assessing the appropriateness of future visits.

A visiting author or illustrator visit does much for the profile of English, both within the school and beyond. It is well worth the effort because students enjoy meeting their favourite authors and illustrators and learn a lot about the crafting of texts. Consider sharing a visiting author with another school if you can’t afford to go it alone.

Often there are opportunities for students to hear authors and illustrators speaking about their work outside the school. If these talks are in school time, the co-ordinator may organise excursions. If they occur outside school time, students can still be encouraged to attend.

3. Competitions:

There is a range of writing competitions for students to enter during the school year. Schools often receive information directly from competition organisers or via the fax stream. For the latest available information, have a look at Competitions in What's News.